Virginia debrief and CAPA Festival this weekend!

Talk about one heckuva hectic weekend in D.C.! After the initial 20 minutes of our road trip down, my sister, our friend Mariah and I took our first stop at the Bergenfield Dunkin' Donuts (oh what a distance!) then continued onward until about 12:30 at night. Our hotel was in Old Town Alexandria, what turned out to be a really gorgeous place (see photo), especially with all the sun this weekend. I wanted to spend more time gallivanting, but sadly couldn't!

We squeezed in time to sight-see where we could, but the sweltering heat made it hard to have energy to do too much. I had rehearsal with Derek Lee of The Speaks and my bassist Jon McElroy, who came down on Saturday.



We met up with an old friend, Beisa, and her boyfriend Ricky and had some Lebanese food in Arlington after rehearsal. I then had to get to Maryland for a quick rehearsal with Rod Garcia's band for two songs that I was playing violin for.

The thunderstorms began shortly thereafter so we headed back to the hotel. Jon was having issues with the place he was staying at, so he ended up crashing on the pull-out couch in our suite. He had the sheer honor of hearing me cough, spit and sneeze all night from the ridiculous allergy attacks I was suffering. . . wish someone had told me the pollen count would be sky high in D.C.!
Anyway, Sunday we had lunch at a seafood place by the Alexandria waterfront called The Wharf where my sister and I devoured some raw oysters (YUMMM). Jon and I skipped out early to catch soundcheck at the venue, Manila Cafe - Springfield, VA.


The show went really well, and I managed to sell some pre-release copies of the new CD. Rod seemed to be doing a lot better after his stroke. The crowd was super friendly and attentive, and Derek rocked out on the drums, despite having just one 2.5-hour rehearsal the day before. I knew he would rock it!


(L to R: Playing with Derek and Jon...Rod Garcia, Rick Brigham, me and sis, Jitter Garcia, Matt Magnaye and Rocky Garcia)

We bounced out of there soon, but not before catching up with some friends from the area who we hadn't seen in months. I sadly drove the whole way home, even though I was pretty exhausted from the show. Oh well! At least I managed to catch some shut-eye...

Coming up next!

CAPA Asian American Heritage Festival
This Sunday - May 3
Dag Hammarskjold Plaza
47th Street between First and Second Avenues, Manhattan
Noon to 6 p.m. (my set at 3:40 to 4 p.m.)

:) My last show in the area for at least another month and a half...

Alfa

PS: Check out some updates on my West Coast dates on the MySpace.